Bones

Pilot - S1-E1

Factual error: In the opening shot of the episode they show a plane landing at an airport, and it says Dulles International Airport on the screen. There is even a nice shot of the US Capitol building in the background, the problem is that Dulles Airport is about 25 miles from Washington, if the shot is real it was filmed at Reagan National Airport. (00:00:10)

pross79

The Man in the Bear - S1-E5

Factual error: When Bones is doing the autopsy on the cannibal victims, she dictates her findings into a tape recorder. She refers to a 'low calibre' gun, rather than the correct 'small calibre' reference. Someone who deals with victims frequently, and who is so specific & detailed, would be well aware of the proper references for such things. (00:32:00)

DavidRTurner

The Man in the Bear - S1-E5

Factual error: This episode was supposed to be staged outside of a small Washington State town. About midway, they cut to a mountain background scene that is Half Dome in Yosemite National Park, California, then pan to Booth and Brennan talking to the sheriff. Anyone who does not realize an iconic landmark like Half Dome is not in Washington was asleep in Geography class.

Diane Hunt

A Boy In A Bush - S1-E6

Factual error: When the gang is reviewing mall security footage to find the kids, Angela says her maximum resolution is 640x480 pixels 'per square inch'. Digital resolution is not defined per inch - it's defined by the entire image. Secondly; moments later, she refers to having another angle of the scene - but the camera shows the very same shot as was just seen. (00:14:40)

DavidRTurner

The Man in the Wall - S1-E7

Factual error: When Angela is running her computer model of the victims' chase behind the wall in the club, she says it "got tight in there - 15 centimetres." 15cm is 6 inches. It isn't possible that a grown adult could pass through a path that narrow - it would have to be at least twice that, just to breathe in & out. (00:24:50)

DavidRTurner

The Superhero in the Alley - S1-E12

Factual error: Booth is supposed to be a (former) Army sniper. Military personnel chosen to be snipers are expert shooters. At the young mans grave, Booth places a sharpshooter badge on the boys casket. Being a sniper, Booth should be an expert and, as such, should have placed an expert badge instead of a sharpshooter. (Rifle and Pistol sharpshooter badges in rank lowest to highest: marksman, sharpshooter, then expert.)

Shannon Jackson

The Girl in the Gator - S2-E13

Factual error: In the interview room with the father, they show him the locket which is in an evidence bag. We next see the father holding and opening the locket. There is no way they would allow him to open and remove the locket from the evidence bag. (00:07:15)

Ssiscool

Boy in the Time Capsule - S3-E7

Factual error: It's established that the victim disappeared on June 10th 1987 which was the day the time capsule was sealed. However, earlier in the episode the tank is being drained and a part of the album Appetite for Destruction by the band Guns N' Roses is in the capsule. The album was initially released on July 21st 1987. Further to this, the sleeve of the album shows the common 'Cross' artwork which wasn't used on the 1st press of the album. The 'Cross' artwork was first released later that year. (00:12:00)

Ssiscool

The Pain in the Heart - S3-E15

Factual error: Following Sealy's funeral, in the scene at the Jeffersonian, a close up of Master Sergeant Booth's uniform, the service ribbons are displayed upside down. His bronze star is on the bottom right and it should be on the top left.

Yanks in the UK (2) - S4-E2

Factual error: Dr. Wexler is killed in his flat in Oxford, yet the the fire engine outside his property is marked as being from the London Fire Brigade rather than the Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service. (00:04:20)

Jeff Walker

The Critic in the Cabernet - S4-E25

Factual error: Temperance Brennan is examining the bones of the victim and mentions she wants to have a baby. She starts examining the tibia, mentions the she wants to have a baby, then says "capitulum" while still looking at the tibia. In actuality, the capitulum is on the distal epiphysis of the humerus, not the tibia. (00:06:25)

The End in the Beginning - S4-E26

Factual error: Near the end, as Bones is typing her book, she hits the key to erase it - and all the text disappears from the screen (later, she says it deleted the whole book). No software allows a single keystroke to erase all current content (if all text had been selected first, then yes, a DEL keystroke would have done it - but nothing was selected) - that would be a feature too risky to allow in any commercial software package.

DavidRTurner

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The Plain in the Prodigy - S5-E3

Factual error: When Bones and Booth go to visit Levi's parents and Sarah's brother yells at her that she is needed at home, when he gets into the buggy you see him wearing a wedding ring. Amish wear a beard to indicate marital status, not jewelry it is against the religion to wear any decoration including wedding rings. (00:08:50)

A Night at the Bones Museum - S5-E5

Factual error: Hodgins makes a remark about the mummy wrappings being for an important person because it is a diamond weave pattern. However, the diamond weave pattern didn't come into effect until the Greco-Roman period that began at 332 B.C. It certainly wouldn't be found in an 18th dynasty mummy, no matter how important he was.

A Night at the Bones Museum - S5-E5

Factual error: Hodgins says that natron was a naturally drying agent, which was used in the second century B.C. This is both wrong and right. While it is true that natron was used for mummification, it was used for thousands of years in Egyptian culture, not just the second century B.C.

The X in the File - S5-E11

Factual error: The Roswell, New Mexico sheriff forces Bones to examine the body because it was found in his jurisdiction. But later in the episode, we learn that the body was found 2 kilometers from the border of Mexico. Roswell is not even in a county on the border of New Mexico much less one that borders Mexico. In fact the closest border to Roswell between the US and Mexico would be in Texas - hours drive away. The Roswell sheriff would have no jurisdiction.

Myridon

The Dentist in the Ditch - S5-E13

Factual error: Booth is introduced to Padme, Jared's girlfriend from India. She explains that they met when they were in "Bangalore visiting the Karnataka Belur temple". Bangalore is the capital city of the state Karnataka. Belur, however, is one of the twin temple towns of Belur and Halebid which is in the district of Hassan, a three-hour drive from Bangalore. There is no Belur temple in Bangalore. (00:06:00)

excreta

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The Dwarf in the Dirt - S5-E7

Trivia: At around 5 mins 11 seconds into the episode, Vincent Nigel-Murrey and Dr. Saroyan are discussing the bones on the forensic platform. In the background of a shot of Vincent, the x-ray on the screen is of Homer Simpson's head in the middle of the screen, instead of a real human skull.

jamba_fish_87

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The Girl in the Mask - S4-E23

Question: When Doctor Brennan is examining the victim's skull, she states that a "straight suture across the palatine bone" indicates that the victim was a native Japanese speaker. I've studied linguistics, but I've never heard of a person's native language actually affecting their anatomy. So, for example: would a person of Japanese heritage who was born and raised in the US and spoke only English be distinguishable from a person who grew up in Japan and spoke only Japanese, purely by their palatine bones? (00:06:10)

tinsmith

Answer: Since the palatine bone is a bone that helps form the mouth it has a lot to do with speaking. The shape of it differs a lot depending on your ethnic background. I would guess that they, in the show, meant that the person's bone tells that they were Japanese and that it was "made for the purpose of speaking Japanese." That's what I'd assume anyway. I've studied molecular biology though, so I'm not an expert on bones.

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